The Substance

Google Enters the Realm of Comic Strips

Depending on who you are, or what industry you happen to work in, Google can either be the superhero or villain of your working life.

With that in mind, it seems that whatever you happen to do, Google may soon have the app to help you create your own comic strips.

After being awarded a patent for what it calls “a system for electronically creating comic strip communications”, the giant of nearly everything is planning to integrate the idea into social networking websites and apps.

For those who enjoy scrolling through Reddit when they should be working, they will be aware that there are already a range of sites and apps that offer this service, including Dan’s Rage Maker, a site used often by Reddit users to create amusing, or sometimes disturbing, comic strips.

It is thought however that with Google’s patent, users will be able to effortlessly add the comics to various sites and social networks without having to go through the fuss of copy and pasting URLs or html.

“Presently, a user who has a funny item, such as a joke, to share with others does not have a way to do so readily other than by plain text.

“Numerous web sites allow end users to easily create their own comic strips, which allow text to be provided with additional visual context, but the strips thus created are not well adapted to be embedded within social network interfaces.”

Throughout 2013, a number of comic strip based apps exploded into the mainstream, including Bitstrips, which served to either fascinate or irritate Facebook users as the year rounded off.

With over ten million downloads since December 2012, and a place on Google’s own Zeitgeist list as the top trending mobile app, 2014 will be a very interesting and lucrative year for Bitstrips and those wishing to invest in mobile apps; whether through “comic strip communications”, or through the a wave of Snapchat type applications that will surely arise later this year.

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